Li Banfeng sat by Chu Yaoxian's bedside, listening to her recount how she had first met He Jiaqing and everything that had transpired between them since.
It was easy to tell that Chu Yaoxian deeply admired He Jiaqing and treasured the predestined bond of meeting and understanding him. Of course, she treasured her own life even more, and she did not leave out a single thing she was supposed to say.
Li Banfeng did not kill Chu Yaoxian. He told her to run her territory well and cultivate that predestined affinity of hers, reporting her progress once every two days.
This was no casual remark. The two had signed a covenant deed laying down precise rules for what she had to report; if Chu Yaoxian failed to report on schedule, she would pay a heavy price.
The next morning, Li Banfeng left Chu Yaoxian's territory and gave Old Luo a phone call. "Contact Liao Zihui. Strangle all of He Jiaqing's business. Any goods that have reached the train stations aren't allowed to ship out, and any goods in transit are to be seized on the spot!"
Old Luo hurried to the Garrison Office. Over an hour later, he called back.
Li Banfeng thought something had gone wrong at the Garrison Office, but Luo Zhengnan reported, "Seventh Master, Director-General Liao agreed and has already ordered his men to take action. Also, the owner of the Miaosheng Gramophone Shop is insisting on seeing you. He says he has an important matter to tell you in person."
An important matter?
Li Banfeng immediately thought of the situation in Inner Amikan. Ling Miaosheng had promised that as soon as he recovered his memories, he would tell Li the Seventh at once.
Li Banfeng had guessed correctly. Ling Miaosheng had recalled quite a lot, and at this moment, he was pacing restlessly in the gramophone shop, waiting anxiously for Li Banfeng to show up. Just past noon, Li Banfeng entered the shop, and Ling Miaosheng quickly ushered him into a back room.
This room had no gramophones, no musical instruments, not even a window.
"Seventh Master, I arranged this room specifically to prevent prying eyes. I can't speak for other places, but I guarantee there are no hooks here."
Ling Miaosheng was a high-level Watcher Cultivator with a cultivation around the eighth layer. After his trip to Inner Amikan, his combat prowess might have grown even higher. A room designed by him could indeed ensure secrecy within a certain scope.
His memories were tangled. Ling Miaosheng gathered his thoughts and told Li Banfeng the important details one by one: "Boss Li, I fought in a war in Inner Amikan. The enemy was the Demon Army."
Li Banfeng blinked, remaining silent.
He didn't know why Ling Miaosheng had fought in Inner Amikan, nor where this Demon Army had come from.
Ling Miaosheng explained, "After arriving in Inner Amikan, I quickly recovered my past memories. I once lived for a long time in a place called Shattered Snow City. I had some friends there who had helped me before, and I intended to repay their kindness.
"When I arrived in Shattered Snow City, an invasion by the Demon Army had just broken out. I joined Shattered Snow City's army and fought them for over a month.
"During the fighting, I was wounded and nearly lost my life. Through that battle, I saw the most shameless side of human nature in the Demon Army.
"I recorded this experience in sheet music, hoping to awaken those tragic memories through music. For a time, I even felt all of it was in vain.
"Shattered Snow City was on the verge of falling to the Demon Army, and at one point, I believed I had no chance of leaving Inner Amikan alive. In my despair, I suddenly received word that Outer Amikan had stepped in.
"First, they sent vast shipments of weapons, and then they deployed their army to join the fight. The conditions in Inner Amikan are just like Puluo Province—gunpowder is very difficult to ignite there, and the transmission of electromagnetic signals is severely restricted.
"The army of the State of Outer Amikan was extremely ill-suited to this mode of warfare and suffered heavy casualties at Shattered Snow City. Yet they did not give up, and several months later, they won the war.
"I asked my friends in Shattered Snow City why Outer Amikan had gotten involved in this war.
"They managed to find out that the Demon Army was infiltrating outward. Their people had already surfaced in many parts of the Outer States, even including Huan Country.
"Amikan was deeply infiltrated by the Demon Army. If Inner Amikan were overrun by them, Outer Amikan would face the dilemma of being attacked from front and back."
"There's a Demon Army in Huan Country too?"
Ling Miaosheng nodded. "That's only a conjecture. Without conclusive clues, Amikan won't release any information."
Li Banfeng pondered for a moment. "Who makes up this Demon Army?"
Ling Miaosheng sighed. "Incredible as it sounds, the Demon Army is composed entirely of Amikans. My friends in Shattered Snow City told me these people were born of this land, but their souls came from hell.
"When the war began, none of the towns were prepared for them at all. By the time defenses were raised, they no longer had the strength to resist such an enemy."
Li Banfeng said, "The Demon Army is made up entirely of Amikans. That means the Demon Army is a homegrown Amikan dark-energy organization?"
Ling Miaosheng gave a slight nod. "You could understand it that way."
Were there any dark-energy organizations in Huan Country made up of Amikans?
Li Banfeng searched his memories. There were a few, but none amounted to anything significant.
If they were homegrown in Amikan, could they also be homegrown in Huan Country?
Ling Miaosheng had not recovered many memories, so Li Banfeng had no way to verify his theory here.
"When did the Demon Army first emerge?"
Ling Miaosheng thought hard. "It's been quite a few years. From what my friends said, several decades, it seems."
That gave him a thread to verify.
Taking his leave of Ling Miaosheng, Li Banfeng raced off toward Rongku Mountain.
Late that night, Critic, the Rongku God, sat halfway up the mountain slope preaching to a group of strange beasts:
"Flourishing and withering represent rise and fall, life and death, the most magnificent journey along the path of existence! Exploring the mysteries between flourishing and withering is synonymous with a love for life. And this love must not only be expressed in words—it must be manifested in the actions of every single one of us!"
As he spoke, Critic pulled open his robes, revealing four large characters emblazoned across his chest: "I love life!"
A cluster of strange beasts sat in a circle around him, watching in silence.
They knew Rongku Mountain was no longer the same as before. On this mountain, one could no longer witness the scenery of all four seasons in a single day; now, only a vast expanse of white snow remained. Yet foraging and hunting on the mountain would no longer draw the Rongku God's punishment.
They knew the Rongku God was no longer the same either. Although Critic used disguise arts, his speech and conduct were vastly different from Rong Sijiao's. But this new Rongku God was very easygoing, even if some of his words were not quite easy to understand.
A doe transformed into human shape. With head lowered, she walked slowly over to Critic and bowed with pious reverence.
She hadn't really understood much of the Rongku God's speech, but she agreed with one idea: love had to be manifested in action.
"Rongku God, I need you to resolve my confusion—a confusion born of life." The doe exposed her chest. "Please bestow these five characters upon me. I wish to keep 'I love the Rongku God' across my breast!"
Critic asked with solemn earnestness, "Bestow them upon you, or tattoo them into you?"
With tears in her eyes, the doe said, "Whatever you say!"
Critic adopted a solemn expression and slowly reached out his hand. He was just about to touch her—
A gust of freezing wind swept in, kicking up snow all around. Li Banfeng strode out from the drifts, startling the doe and the other strange beasts into scrambling aside.
"Rongku God, I have something to consult you about."
Critic glanced at the gathered beasts, his gaze lingering particularly on the doe's chest. He carefully evaluated the dimensions; those five characters, "I love the Rongku God," would have fit perfectly there.
Yet with Li Banfeng standing right here, Critic had no choice but to dismiss the creatures. "Go down the mountain and reflect upon the life force within the alternation of flourishing and withering on your own. When day breaks tomorrow, tell me your impressions."
The beasts scurried down the mountain. Critic said with a sullen face, "What on earth do you want that you had to come looking for me right at this moment?"
Li Banfeng asked gravely, "Rongku God, I need you to resolve my confusion—a confusion born of the Demon Army!"
"The Demon Army?" Critic shook his head. "Never heard of them."
Seeing Critic's expression, Li Banfeng's heart sank by half. It seemed Critic hadn't known much about dark-energy users while in Inner Amikan. Just as Li Banfeng was about to get up and take his leave, Critic suddenly asked, "You mean the Servants of the Demon Lord, don't you?"
The names differed by so much—could there really be a connection?
Li Banfeng thought about it, and realized there very well might be. The language of Amikan was not Ling Miaosheng's mother tongue, nor was the language of Puluo Province Critic's native tongue. Both names were translations made by them, so differences were completely natural.
Li Banfeng began his preliminary verification: "Are the Servants of the Demon Lord all Amikans?"
Critic considered carefully. "In Amikan, they are all Amikans."
"And outside Amikan?"
Critic fell silent for a long moment, then looked at Li Banfeng. "Can I refuse to answer that question?"
"Is it difficult?"
"You could say that. Because to some extent, the Servants of the Demon Lord and I share a common pursuit.
"In my homeland, I once wanted to join the ranks of the Servants of the Demon Lord. I even swore an oath never to betray their organization or its members.
"Though I ultimately didn't join them due to ideological differences, an oath is an oath. There are things I cannot reveal to you in excess—at least, not voluntarily."
Critic's meaning was clear: there were things he could not state outright, but he could help Li Banfeng evaluate them.
Li Banfeng first asked, "What ideological differences did you have with the Servants of the Demon Lord?"
"Both they and I relish slaughter, but in my eyes, slaughter exists to grant life greater value. It is an expression of the highest reverence for life.
"The Servants of the Demon Lord, on the other hand, treat slaughter as a means of trampling life underfoot. Their deeds are steeped in contempt and desecration of life, which I cannot tolerate.
"And there is something I find even more intolerable: their motives for killing are mingled with blind, ignorant loyalty. Sometimes it is genuine blind devotion; other times, it is merely an excuse to trample upon life. Such vileness and hypocrisy are truly sickening."
Li Banfeng asked, "Who do they swear allegiance to? The Inner States?"
Critic said, "That depends on the place. In Amikan, people usually call that place the Demon Realm. In the State of Ravsha, they tend to call it Chernobog's Domain. As a side note, the State of Ravsha is the true birthplace of the Servants of the Demon Lord, though in Ravsha, the organization goes by another name."
That single sentence explained a great deal.
The Servants of the Demon Lord originated in the State of Ravsha, yet in Amikan, their members were all homegrown Amikans. Following this logic, in Huan Country, their members would be homegrown Huan citizens.
Critic continued, "I do admire their members. Though they have no pathway, they have mastered spells from many countries—spells that have long since vanished from this world."
Mastered many spells.
Li Banfeng asked, "There's an organization in Huan Country called the Hundred Demons Workshop. Have you heard of it?"
Critic offered neither confirmation nor denial. "Hundred Demons Workshop... With a name like that, they must be very close to the devil. Perhaps as close as a servant to his master."
Li Banfeng rose to leave, but Critic asked him to wait a moment.
He prepared a vial of medicine, stoppered it, and handed it to Li Banfeng. "I have an associate surnamed Du who might also have gotten very close to the devil lately. This vial of medicine is a lifesaver for him, but a fatal lesion for anyone else.
"Take this vial. I believe my associate will be very obedient to you."
He meant Du Wenming?
When had Du Wenming ever collaborated with Critic?
Li Banfeng took the vial. "You don't intend to work with him anymore?"
Critic shook his head. "If he has become a servant of the devil, our partnership must come to an end.
"Besides, even if our collaboration had succeeded, the value of that venture could never compare to our friendship."
Critic picked up a watering can and sprinkled some water onto a small flower growing in a tin can.
Li Banfeng took the test tube and departed Rongku Mountain.
On the way, Li Banfeng called Luo Zhengnan, instructing him to notify Liao Zihui immediately: the Hundred Demons Workshop was an organization sent by the Inner States that had just instigated a war in Amikan, and Shen Jingye must handle it with the utmost caution.
Luo Zhengnan went to the Garrison Office and passed the message to Liao Zihui, who immediately dispatched men to relay the news to Shen Jingye.
Shen Jingye replied on the spot, "Please inform Director Li that I will pass the relevant information to my superiors. I have already made deployments for our next move, so please tell Director Li not to worry..."
At that moment, Li Banfeng was speeding toward Iron Gate Fort.
Shen Jingye's deployments were indeed sound, but Li Banfeng couldn't set his mind at ease.
Though the Hundred Demons Workshop might differ from region to region, an organization capable of dealing a heavy blow to Amikan certainly couldn't be handled by the Dark Star Bureau alone.
What was more, there was Du Wenming.
That bastard knew the Dark Star Bureau far too well.
Dancing in rhythmic steps, Du Wenming slipped into Guyuan Farm.
Li Banfeng's concerns were well-founded. Du Wenming knew the Dark Star Bureau too well—he knew their patrol habits, their shift change schedules, and even the blind spots of their drone surveillance. He had mastered every detail.
Approaching the detention cells, Du Wenming circled the Boundary and soon sensed a fissure near it.
This fissure was a natural entrance to a wormhole. The electromagnetic cannon created by Yu Yaoming could automatically lock onto wormhole exits and entrances and tear them wide enough for a human to pass through.
Du Wenming could sense where the entrance was, and he could even slip straight into the narrow opening using his dance steps. The critical question, however, was whether he could get out.
Exits were far harder to find than entrances. Every time Du Wenming entered a wormhole, he had to mentally prepare himself for the possibility of being trapped inside for the rest of his life.
As things stood, he had to take the gamble. Du Wenming gritted his teeth and plunged into the wormhole. He ran in a fixed direction to the other side, and after searching for less than twenty minutes, he found the exit. With the weight lifted from his heart for the moment, Du Wenming squeezed out of the wormhole and arrived beside the cells.
From here on, things were simple.
A suspect named Lei Yuze was sitting dazed in his cell.
He was terrified. He had no idea what crime he had committed. He had gone through immense hardship just to become a formal member of the Hundred Demons Workshop, and before he could even learn a single real spell, he had ended up locked in a place like this.
Amidst his anguish, he suddenly noticed another person in the cell, staring at him expressionlessly.
Lei Yuze looked toward the door, filled with the urge to shout for help.
Du Wenming signaled for Lei Yuze to stay calm. Stepping into the cell, he whispered, "The workshop sent me to rescue you. Master Pei asked me to inquire: have you completed the mission assigned to you by the workshop?"
"Completed!" Lei Yuze answered without hesitation.
In truth, he didn't understand what Du Wenming was talking about. The Hundred Demons Workshop had never assigned him any special mission—after all, Lei Yuze had only just become a formal member. But if he didn't answer along this person's line of thought, the man might not rescue him.
Du Wenming asked again, "What was the mission assigned to you by the workshop?"
Lei Yuze thought for a moment and replied, "The Master ordered that the mission's details must not be disclosed to anyone."
Du Wenming's face darkened. "If you can't tell me the contents of the mission, I won't take you out."
Lei Yuze refused to relent. "I cannot disobey the Master's orders!"
Du Wenming frowned slightly. "Then you'll have to suffer a bit."
Lei Yuze sensed something was terribly wrong. He wanted to call for help, but couldn't make a sound.
Du Wenming twisted his right ankle clockwise. Lei Yuze's ankle twisted along with it, his toes turning directly backward. In agonizing pain, tears streamed down Lei Yuze's face.
Du Wenming paused in surprise. A core member of the Hundred Demons Workshop shouldn't be so fragile.
He gave his left ankle a twist as well. Lei Yuze's left foot twisted around, nearly causing him to faint from the pain.
After a bout of torture, Lei Yuze spoke the truth: "The Master never gave me a mission... I only became a formal member last month!"
"Last month..." Du Wenming froze for a long while. Then he gently turned his neck. Lei Yuze's neck turned a full circle with it; his spine snapped, and Lei Yuze died on the spot.
This man wasn't a core member.
What about the others?
Du Wenming entered several cells in succession, quickly arriving at a conclusion: none of these people were core members.
Where on earth were the core members?
A vein throbbed at Du Wenming's temple as he realized he had been duped.
Finding the wormhole entrance, he dove right back in.
This time, however, he wasn't so lucky. Even after a full hour, he still couldn't find the exit.
In the interrogation room of the Dark Star Bureau, Shen Jingye was questioning core member Geng Shunxi.
Yesterday, after Chen Changrui discovered security vulnerabilities at the farm, Shen Jingye had immediately beefed up the defenses.
Yet Shen Jingye knew full well that relying solely on strict defense would never solve the problem. Overnight, he had transferred the core members of the Hundred Demons Workshop back to the Dark Star Bureau, sending ordinary members of little value to Guyuan Farm instead.
Word had just arrived from Guyuan Farm: a suspect's body had been found inside a cell.
The fact that the Hundred Demons Workshop was so desperate to silence them confirmed Shen Jingye's assessment: these core members held critical secrets.
According to the intelligence Li the Seventh had gathered, this organization was capable of launching a war in Amikan, which meant they posed a threat to the security of all Huan Country.
Shen Jingye ordered the intensity of the Judge medium increased. "This is the last chance I'm giving you. Tell me what your plans have been lately!"
Curled up in his chair, tears streaming down his face, Geng Shunxi wept, "Our plan lately was to liquidate all the organization's assets and disband all our members... We never thought of fighting you! We're just ordinary spell enthusiasts, why do you have to treat us like this?"
With just these streams of tears, the Hundred Demons Workshop had garnered public support from all sides.
Tonight, Shen Jingye ignored those tears.
Even if he had to stake his official post, he would get to the bottom of this and bring the whole truth to light!
Du Wenming crawled out of the wormhole, glancing back at the Boundary behind him with lingering fear.
It had taken him three whole hours to locate the exit, and even then, luck had played a major part.
Dark Star Bureau agents had already discovered the corpse in the cell, plunging the entire farm into a state of high alert.
Shen Jingye had issued orders that the killer must not be allowed to leave the farm under any circumstances. But he had never imagined the culprit would actually be Du Wenming.
Du Wenming knew every operational plan of the Dark Star Bureau by heart. In under twenty minutes, he made his escape from the farm. Once inside his sedan, he immediately contacted Pei Yurong.
"Master, we were duped. The Dark Star Bureau moved our core members elsewhere."
"Which means you failed." Though Pei Yurong's tone remained calm, she was thoroughly incensed.
Du Wenming said, "It's too early to call it a failure. I know where the core members are, but I need your cooperation. Dispatch some men to cause incidents in the city—make as much noise as possible."
Pei Yurong considered it. "You want to lure the tiger away from the mountain, but who is the tiger?"
"Every agent in the Dark Star Bureau is a tiger. For every one drawn away, my chances increase. You have to make the disturbance as loud as possible..."
Before he could finish, Du Wenming slammed on the brakes as a figure suddenly flashed before him.
Looking closely, he saw someone with an outstretched hand, trying to hitch a ride. In Huan Country, hitchhiking by the roadside was a rare sight.
Du Wenming had no intention of bothering with the man. Just as he was about to drive around him, the person outside raised his head and smiled at him.
A hat concealed most of the man's face, yet the gaunt cheeks and the mustache on his upper lip made Du Wenming shudder.
Boss Lu!
How could he be here?
Du Wenming floored the accelerator, but the car wouldn't budge. Rows of fine, minute characters on the ground gripped the wheels tightly.
Du Wenming hastily used his communicator to contact Pei Yurong. "Master, I've run into an enemy—Boss Lu of the Lu Family Bookhouse! You know this man. I need your help!"
Dense clusters of characters covered the white sedan; Du Wenming was already tightly besieged.
Pei Yurong said, "Don't panic. I have a way to save you."
She summoned Liu Cuishan and instructed in a low voice, "Light the fuse at the Lu Family Bookhouse."
Liu Cuishan said, "Master, the fuse at the Lu Family Bookhouse was supposed to be saved for a critical moment..."
Pei Yurong snapped, "Now is a critical moment!"
Liu Cuishan quickly summoned several subordinates and swiftly set up a spell formation...
On the road, swarms of characters relentlessly tore at Du Wenming's sedan, twisting the chassis out of shape. Trapped inside, Du Wenming could neither move the vehicle nor escape.
The interior of the car was far too cramped for Du Wenming to properly execute his Dance Cultivator techniques. He could only make limited arm movements, doing his best to disperse some of the characters with his dance postures.
Du Wenming's options were severely limited, while Boss Lu's characters were inexhaustible. He had brought the complete set of the Frosted Embroidery Collection today with a single objective: to take Du Wenming's life without any physical contact whatsoever.
To Boss Lu, physical contact was an offense against gentility. More importantly, Du Wenming carried an infectious lesion, which solidified Boss Lu's resolve never to touch him once.
The dancing movements of Du Wenming's hands gradually failed to withstand the surging onslaught of characters. Once the characters seeped into the car, Du Wenming would have no way out.
A faint smile appeared on Boss Lu's face, but then his heart suddenly skipped a beat.
Something had happened at the bookhouse.
He flipped open a volume of the Frosted Embroidery Collection. On one of the illustrated pages, he saw the situation in the bookhouse.
The bookhouse had long since closed for the night, leaving the main hall pitch-black.
The magic box placed behind the counter had opened its lid on its own.
Boss Lu wasn't overly surprised; he had always known this magic box was extraordinary.
The materials and lock of the counter were exceedingly special. No matter what crawled out of that box, it should have been impossible for it to leave the counter.
Yet the next scene caused Boss Lu's heart to leap into his throat.
A man climbed out of the foot-wide box.
There was no need to see his face; just from that scrawny physique, Boss Lu recognized his identity at once.
Xiao Qianshou!
The Grandmaster of Thief Cultivators had crawled out of the magic box!
This was the magic box the Hundred Demons Workshop had sold to Boss Lu!
Why was Xiao Qianshou associated with the Hundred Demons Workshop?
There was no time to ponder that now, because the lock on the counter couldn't possibly stop Xiao Qianshou!
Xiao Qianshou effortlessly unlocked the counter and stepped into the main hall.
He was heading toward the bookshelves.
Xiao Qianshou had stolen from the Lu Family Bookhouse before; he knew the bookshelves held a special formation.
If there was a rift in Santoucha's Boundary at this moment, Xiao Qianshou would only need to circle a specific bookshelf twice at a particular speed to slip right into Puluo Province.
If he were allowed into the bookhouse in Puluo Province, heaven only knew how much Xiao Qianshou would steal—he might even make off with Yu Yaoming!
What should he do?
Going back now meant letting Du Wenming escape.
Not going back now meant risking the loss of his entire life's foundation.
A chilly wind blew past, and the characters surrounding the sedan dispersed with the breeze.
Du Wenming poked his head out of the car window and looked around, but Boss Lu was nowhere to be seen.
Inside the Lu Family Bookhouse, Xiao Qianshou had just approached the second row of bookshelves when Boss Lu emerged from behind them.
"Honored guest, our shop is closed. If you wish to buy books, come earlier in your next life."
Xiao Qianshou tilted his head back and laughed. "Zhou Badou, you want to kill me? Think it'll be that easy?"
Boss Lu casually pulled two books from the shelf. "Xiao Laoqian, since you've come courting death of your own accord, I naturally ought to oblige."
Chapter 631